Tell me about us
by casecous
Summary: Kaidan finds Shepard trapped the rubble.


_A/N So I had "Married Life" from the Up soundtrack on repeat and wrote this, so if you want to set the mood go listen to that. Fair warning, it's pretty dialogue heavy._

* * *

"Oh god, Shepard. Oh jesus, no." He finds her covered in blood with her legs trapped underneath a concrete block. "They're coming, Shepard. We'll get you out of here."

"Hey," she says weakly. "I don't know that I can feel my…" she trails off, looking toward the lower half of her body. She looks back up at him and smiles that same reassuring smile she always gives. "I'll be okay."

"I'll go get –"

"No," she interrupts, "Don't leave…Tell me about us, Kaidan."

"What?" he asks blankly.

"Us. You and me."

"I…"

"Please?" she whispers.

He sits next to her and gently takes hold of her hand. "I was the hesitant lieutenant and you were my absolutely beautiful commanding officer. And for some reason you thought I was worth a second glance."

"More than just a second one."

"You were stunning in combat. Stunning in that awful orange light on the Normandy. I found myself telling you everything and tripping over my words constantly, because I was falling more and more in love with you."

"Always the romantic."

"So I finally worked up the courage to do something about it. That night before Ilos meant so much to us. Because it was perfect. Because we were just two people in love in the middle of a war."

"Tell me again what you said," she whispers.

"I said, 'I think about losing you and I can't stand it.'" His voice breaks but he continues. "'The galaxy will just keep going. Everything, even the Reapers, will come around again. But you and I…we are important right now. And this is what will never happen again. Us. Shepard, you make me feel….human.'" He takes a deep breath. "Then I lost you. I was numb for two years. But you came back…I was a real ass to you."

"Not without reason."

"Walking away from you was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. And even though I walked away you kept a picture of me on your desk." She nods. "When we saw each other again, we were so unsure of where we stood with each other. You were civil, even though you didn't have to be."

"And then being on a mission with you felt like old times. Like home again," she cuts in.

This time he nods. "Even though I was still a bit of an ass."

"But then you got hurt and I was afraid I would lose you after I had just gotten you back."

"But I got better. And I was yours again, if you would have me."

"And I did."

He laughs, "Alright, Shepard. But I had you too."

She smirks. "Many times."

"We had each other."

"Mmmm," she agrees, closing her eyes to enjoy the rest of the story.

"And then it was one last night together before… Before the end. You told me you loved me."

"Because I love you."

"And I love you. We made love twice that night…like we could disappear into each other instead of face the next day. But the next day came eventually. You gave me your dog tags."

"And you gave me yours with a ring."

"With a ring," he repeats. "We said goodbye, thinking it would be our last. And even though we almost lost each other again, we found each other again."

"Of course we did." There was a long silence. "Go on," she urges him, handing him the chain she held in her other hand.

"I moved the ring from the chain to her finger," he says, taking the ring off and putting it on her finger. He swallows. "You finally married me. We built this beautiful house in Vancouver overlooking English Bay. You met my mother and she loved you like I knew she would. We had two beautiful children."

"And each time I said 'I hope he has his father's hair and eyes.'"

"And each time I said, 'I hope she has her mother's hair and eyes.'"

He notices she's crying. He hadn't seen her cry before. "A boy and a girl," he says, brushing her tears away. "We gave them the life we never had. The family you never had. The little girl looked just like her mother."

"The little boy looked just like his father," she adds.

"Eventually the children grew up and started their own families, leaving us the way we had been before. But with more grey hair and more stomach fat. We grew old together, Shepard. Old in war, and then old in years. We loved. We were happy to the end of our days."


End file.
